A governing coalition with the EFF would be the end of SA as we know it. If this happens, I won’t be the only one to sell my entire investment in the country

My paternal grandfather was injured in the battle of Verdun during World War 1.

My maternal grandfather was reported missing in action after the battle of Stalingrad.

Why do I write this to you? Because those are the sad results of hatred. Hatred caused World War 1 — and World War 2 even more so. Adolf Hitler’s hatred killed millions of people and destroyed Europe.

Today we know Hitler came to power largely because of the economic crisis of the 1930s. The Great Depression and Germany’s hyperinflation wiped out a good part of the middle class and sent them voting for "radical" change against "Jewish monopoly capital".

Does this sound familiar? Well, yes: just replace a few words and here you are with the EFF.

Why do I write this? I’m invested in SA. It’s a risk — but it’s also a chance. I prefer not to ignore the risks, but to see the chances as well.

The risks? Well, if ever you read this, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa: don’t be fooled like the German chancellor, Franz von Papen.

He thought making a coalition with the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and Hitler — "binding" the Nazis into government — would limit their power.

We all know this didn’t work.

A governing coalition with the EFF would be the end of SA as we know it. If this happens, I won’t be the only one to sell my entire investment in the country.

Fighting the EFF message is the only alternative. How to do this? It’s both easy and difficult. The difficult part is economic growth. Radicalism is a plant that grows in poverty. And the easy part (don’t laugh) is love — love between the different races in SA.

No-one really learns from history — but sometimes people see a hole before they fall in.

So why not invite someone of another race for coffee today and make a start? Quoting Bob Marley, I’ll finish with what seems a strange sentence in an economic publication: let love rule.